Int'l nuclear experts examine clean-up at Japan's Fukushima

Specialists from the International Atomic Energy Agency met here Monday with Japanese officials at the start of a nine-day mission to review the clean-up the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The 16-member IAEA team, led by Juan Carlos Lentijo of Spain, made the trip at the invitation of the Japanese government.

This latest IAEA mission comes two years into Japan's efforts to decontaminate and safely decommission the Fukushima plant, where reactors melted down after the cooling systems were knocked out in March 2011 by a massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has come under harsh criticism in recent weeks from Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority amid a serious of blunders that led to massive leaks of radioactive water.

TEPCO acknowledged last week that water from the sea around Fukushima showed levels of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 well above regulatory limits.

Both Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 are harmful to humans.

Those water samples were taken a day after six Fukushima workers who were doused with radioactive water as a result of a human error.